Early returns from SFL track championships

While the events on the track were trials to narrow the field for Friday's finals, a few field events were completed Wednesday at the Sierra Foothill League track and field championships in Rocklin.
Roseville's Chelsee Elliott flew past the field in the girls long jump with a leap of 17 feet, 4 inches. Hannah Hardy from Woodcreek also qualified for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II finals next week with a 16-11 best, and Liesl Shirhall of Rocklin also exceeded the distance of 16 feet, 7 inches that allows her to move on.
In each event at the league finals, the top four finishers will advance to the next level. There is also a minimum standard set for each competition and each athlete who exceeds that mark moves on as well, even if they finish outside the top four.
Michael Bullard of Rocklin won the boys long jump with a 20-06 result, but even that leap was short of the established at-large jump, which means that just the top four finishers move on. John Park of Granite Bay finished fourth in the event.
Bullard also qualified in the boys high jump as he and teammate Holden Huff finished second and third at the at-large height of 6 feet, 1 inch. That event was won by Granite Bay's Kevin Nielsen, who cleared 6 feet, 5 inches.
Jessica Mixon of Del Oro won the girls high jump at 5-03, and Brie Shea of Oakmont is also advancing with a jump of 5-01.
Those four events were the extent of the varsity finals decided Wednesday, as the rest of the field events will be contested at Friday's finals.
Friday also features finals in the running events, which were whittled down to the top runners at Wednesday's trials.
Oakmont sprinter Jazmin Harper was the fastest qualifier in the girls 400 and 200-meter dashes, while Roseville sprinter Jordan was the fastest in the preliminaries of both the boys 100 and 200.
Granite Bay provided the top three qualifying times in the girls 800 as Christine Zavesky, Maddie Lummus and Brooke Holt all moved to the finals. Lummus is also a player in the girls 100, with Woodcreek's Maya Cabiness as a primary challenger as well.
The SFL track finals are set for Friday at Rocklin High School, with the qualifiers moving to the section D-II finals next Wednesday and Friday at Bella Vista High.